


Gareth

by Faramirlover



Series: Gareth AU [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 02:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faramirlover/pseuds/Faramirlover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto's late for work, Jack's worried, and WHO is Gareth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jack was worried. Tosh, Gwen and even Owen could see it, although only Gwen and Tosh were sensitive enough to know why.

Jack was pacing back and forth along the balcony, glancing continually between the Hub's rolling door, his mobile and his watch. He was just completing the journey from left to right for what felt like the billionth time when Owen finally gave up and wandered from the medical bay to where the girls were pretending to be examining a report. 'Pretending' being the important part.

"Okay," he whispered when he reached them "what's eating Jack?"

The girls rolled their eye at him.

"Do you really not know?" Gwen asked.

"Would I be asking if I did?"

"Well," said Tosh in her mot patronising voice "what or who is missing this morning?"

Owen looked puzzled and glanced around the hub.

"Myfanway's still asleep and she should be up by now?" he asked, looking confused still.

"No you twat. Ianto. That name ringing any bells at all?"

"Isn't he just down in the archives or something?"

"No," said Gwen impatiently "he's not. And have you noticed the time?"

Owen looked at his watch but remained puzzled.

"Ten past nine? What about it?"

"God, Owen. You are so slow. Why do you work here? Seriously. Ianto is late for work. Ianto Jones, Mr-I'm-Always-Three-Hours-Early-And-I'm-Perfect, is late for work," for a few seconds the tone of Tosh's voice betrayed her slight panic "that's why Jack is worried and edgy and acting ever so slightly weird."

"Oh," said Owen "why doesn't he just call Ianto's mobile?"

"He already has," said Gwen, glancing over Owen's head to watch Jack pace "several times. But Ianto's not picking up."

Half an hour passed and almost no work was achieved. Okay, lets be realistic, no work was done. Jack was too wound up to notice the lack of activity and Tosh and Gwen were quickly following him. Owen was, of course, as laid back as ever and nonchalantly throwing a ping pong ball from one hand to the other.

"Okay," came Jack's voice from above them "it's saying his numbers out of order. I'm going round to his."

He was down the ladder and half way across the Hub floor when the door rolled open and Ianto appeared in the doorway.

"Sorry I'm late," he said without looking at them, intent on dumping his bags on the sofa "Gareth kept me up half the night and he was being a right pain this morning. Didn't want to wake up. Didn't want to get dressed. Didn't want to have breakfast. Didn't want to leave the flat. Then I dropped my phone. All the usually things that-"

The last of Ianto's words were cut off by Jack.

"Who the hell is Gareth?" Jack demanded, striding over to stand in front of Ianto and poking him in the chest to emphasize every word.

"I'll just get him," Ianto said, stepping back from Jack "I left him up in the office."

He disappeared off back to the Tourist Information Office. He reappeared a few seconds later carrying a basket. Gently placing it on a desk he gently lifted out a small bundle of blankets with dark hair sticking tuftily out of the top.

"Don't wake him up. He just fell asleep and he'll cry at you. Everyone, this is Gareth Jones."

Tosh and Gwen dashed forward to get a good look at the bundle whilst Jack and Owen hung back in horror.

"Oh, he's adorable," cooed Gwen.

"Please tell me that's not a baby."

Jack's words were cut by a load wail from the bundle.

"Oh darling, don't cry," Ianto fussed, rocking the child back and forth "no need to cry. Do you want to go to Gwen? Yes, yes you do."

He shifted the baby gently into Gwen's waiting arms and she began to rock him.

"Here give him this," Ianto said shifting around in one of the bags and pulling out a bottle "he's a hungry little guy."

Owen seemed to overcome his initial horror and had moved to stand next to Gwen and was stood smiling down and the tiny baby. The only one hanging back was Jack. Ianto noticed this and moved over to stand next to him. Jack was staring fixedly at the white blanket and the tiny tufts of black hair sticking out of the top.

"Jack?" Ianto tried but Jack didn't take his eyes off Gareth "Jack?"

Without looking at Ianto, Jack spun on the spot and dashed towards the archives.

"There's something I need to do," he called over his shoulder and disappeared from sight.

Ianto was about to race after him when Gareth started crying again.

"Hey, Ianto, I think this little man wants you. Either that or he's figured out that Owen's a git already," Tosh and Gwen laughed.

Ianto turned to find a petrified looking Owen holding a crying Gareth. Completely forgetting Jack he hurried back to the group and freed Owen from the apparent torture of holding a crying baby.


	2. Chapter 2

Gareth seemed to like Gwen. Out of her, Owen and Tosh, she was the only one that Gareth didn't cry at. Deciding that Gwen was capable of looking after him for a bit, he left the sleeping baby in his basket beside her desk and went to talk to Jack who had just attempted to sneak past them into his office without being noticed.

Entering Jack's office he paused by the door and watched Jack for a few seconds. He was banging his head repeatedly against his desk and mumbling to himself.

"Sir?" he asked gently, making Jack jump.

"Oh, Ianto, it's you."

"Yes, Sir. Sir? Is there a problem with me brining Gareth in today? You looked a bit put out that I brought him in. It's just there's nobody to look after him and I couldn't exactly leave him on his-"

"Ianto, it's fine, I was just a little surprised is all," Jack said, ruffling his hair with a slight sigh "I didn't know that you were with someone, Ianto. Or that you were having a kid. I would have thought that you'd share something like that with us."

Ianto was surprised to see that Jack looked genuinely disappointed.

"Sir, Gareth isn't my son, he's my nephew. If you hadn't dashed off you would have heard me tell the others."

"He's not your son? You're single?" Jack asked, an untameable grin spreading across his face.

"Yes, though I'm insulted by how delighted you are at my lack of a love life."

Jack didn't reply but instead flung himself round his desk and kissed Ianto on the lips. Hard. Ianto didn't respond, just stood for a few seconds, arms hanging limply at his sides before stepping away.

"Why…well, err…what was that?"

"Am I that bad a kisser?" Jack joked though inside he felt like his heart was breaking.

"No, it's just, where the hell did that come from?"

Jack nervously ruffled his hair again.

"Okay, I'm going to be honest which hardly ever happens so count yourself lucky," they both knew he was stalling so Jack cleared his throat and went for it "when I thought you were with someone and you had a kid, I was unbelievably jealous and I couldn't face you and stuff. But then when you said Gareth isn't yours I was really really happy and couldn't help kissing you."

Jack's words came out as a big rush and it took Ianto a few seconds to make sense of his speech. When he did he looked incredibly gloomy.

"I'm sorry jack, I can't do this," said Ianto, moving to the door and looking sadly at Jack "Gareth may as well be my son. His parents are dead and I'm his guardian. I have to think about him and how what I do will affect his life. I need to be with someone who's prepared to be a parent to Gareth, and I know you're not that person."

Before Jack could say another word Ianto had slipped out of the office, leaving him stood there, utterly shell-shocked and wondering what he was supposed to do.


	3. Chapter 3

When Ianto exited Jack's office, it was to the sound of Gareth crying. Gwen was rocking him gently in his arms but he didn't want to calm down.

"Here," she said, passing him into Ianto's arms with a strained expression on her face "he's decided that he doesn't like his Auntie Gwen."

Ianto nodded "you do that, don't you little man? Suddenly change your opinion on people. I bet if we tried you with Owen now, you'd be perfectly happy."

Gwen watched him talk to the child with a smile on her face. Eventually she spoke.

"How can you be so loving towards a child that's not even yours?" she asked, not looking at Ianto but instead watching as Gareth blinked slowly at the shiny buttons on Ianto's jacket as though fascinated by them.

"I'm all he has left. I would have loved him as a little nephew, now I love him like a son. It's not too different. And in him I can see Lloyd when he was a baby. It's like I haven't completely lost him."

"Lloyd?"

"My brother, Gareth's dad. I was five when he was born. Apparently I used to like feeding him and playing with him and stuff, like he was my baby, even though I was only five," Ianto said, allowing Gareth to suck on his fingers.

"What happened to him?"

"Killed in Iraq seventh months ago. Never even got a chance to meet his son," Ianto's voice quivered slightly as though he were fighting back tears so Gwen placed a comforting arm round his shoulders.

"What happened to Gareth's mam?" she asked gently.

"Car accident. Three weeks after Gareth was born she was going to the shops with him. Some teenagers in a stolen car knocked her over but missed Gareth," by now Ianto really was crying, tears were dripping down his cheeks and he was sniffing quietly.

"Oh, Ianto, honey. Don't cry. Here," she said, gently lifting Gareth from his arms and placing him in his basket before wrapping Ianto up in a motherly hug.

He cried gently into her shoulder for a few minutes until Gareth started crying again.

"I think he's hungry," said Ianto, his voice back to its serene calmness as though he had not cried at all and Gwen understood that the conversation was over "could you pass me a bottle from the green bag."

Gwen watched him feed Gareth for a few moments before being called back to her desk by an ominous sounding beeping. After ascertaining that, no, the world was not about to blow up and, no, she had not caused it and, yes, it was, in fact, just an e-mail. She settled herself in front of her computer to reply to Owen's question about the difference between Bakewell Tarts and Bakewell Puddings and then got on with some real work. This 'real work', which consisted mainly of e-mailing Owen, was interrupted when Ianto gave a high pitched and girly shriek causing all those in the Hub's main room to come running.

"Someone take him," he said, holding Gareth out in front of him "somebody take him now."

Gwen dashed forward to take Gareth from him, who promptly started crying.

"He threw up on my favourite jacket," Ianto moaned, pulling off the offending item and without another word he dashed off in the direction of the toilets.

Gwen, Tosh and Owen stood for a few moments in silence apart from the bawling Gareth, staring after him before Owen spoke.

"Anybody else think he just managed to reach new levels of gayity?"

OOOOOO

When Ianto emerged from the toilet he couldn't hear Gareth crying. Clutching his now clean jacket he ventured back into the Hub's main room and set about finding out who Gareth had now accepted as being good for cuddles. He was incredibly surprised to find Jack stood in the door to his office, leant against the doorway, cooing quietly to the child in his arms. Edging forward he got close enough to the pair to hear what they were saying.

"Now," Jack murmured gently to the child "are we in agreement? Between us, we're going to persuade Ianto to let me be your second daddy, well third if you're counting properly. Is that okay with you?"

Gareth just stared back at him with his big blue eyes, blinking every few seconds.

"I'll take that as a yes. Good. I'd be a good dad, you know? If Ianto would let me. And I'd stick around and look after you. And always be there if either of you need me. Because I love him and I know I can love you."

There was silence as he seemed to struggle to find the words he wanted to say.

"I had a son once. He looked a lot like you. They took him away from me before I could get to know him. But nobody's gonna take you away. Even if Ianto doesn't let me be your dad, I'll be your cool and sexy uncle instead. Understand? Of course not, you're a baby. But I mean it."

Jack continued to rock Gareth in silence watching him as he slowly started to fall asleep.

"I'd be a good dad," Jack said again, as though reassuring the child and himself.

Ianto decided that it was time to make himself known. He slipped forward silently and softly kissed Jack on the cheek. Jack jumped slightly, a look of confusion passing across his face.

"What-?" he started but Ianto cut him off with a finger pressed lightly to his lips.

"Careful, Sir, don't want to wake Gareth do we?"

Jack shook his head and Ianto removed his finger. They stood watching each other for a few moments until Ianto spoke.

"Did you mean it?" he said in his softest voice "you want to be his dad? And you won't leave? And… and you love me?"

Jack nodded slowly, still swaying gently, trying to keep Gareth asleep.

"Good," Ianto said, leaning forward to kiss him hard on the lips "I would hate it so if you lied to a baby."

Jack chuckled lightly and made to hand Gareth back to Ianto but Ianto shook his head.

"I've got some coffee to make, and besides, he seems quite happy with his daddy."

Jack blushed a happy sort of pink and held Gareth close. Kissing Jack on the cheek once more, Ianto went off to make the coffee, wondering what sort of a person Gareth would grow to be with Jack and himself as fathers.


End file.
